“The Bling Ring”

Either Paris Hilton has a great sense of humor or she has no self-awarenesa. Either way, Hilton allowed director Sofia Coppola into her own home to film scenes for “The Bling Ring.” It’s a museum of narcissism, beyond the reach of satire.

And yet Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and other reality stars and actors are actually the victims in this story, which is based on true events. Katie Chang’s Rebecca is the ringleader of a group of celebrity-obsessed teens that invaded the homes of celebrities, rifling through their possessions as if they were at a flea market.

These kids are not geniuses. They wear the clothes and shoes they steal to parties, they brag about their exploits, they sell the loot to local scumbags—and they keep at it, even after showbiz websites and entertainment TV shows run stories about the Bling Ring.

Emma Watson is comedic gold as Nicki, who frets more about fashion than her fate as she prepares for trial. Leslie Mann scores big laughs as her mother, who hands out prescription drugs like vitamins at the start of each day.

Sofia Coppola comes from Hollywood royalty, and her best films are about celebrity, whether she’s painting a melancholy portrait of Bill Murray’s veteran action star in “Lost In Translation,” examining the restless life of an actor who has just “blown up” in the underrated “Somewhere,” or jazzing up the story of that 18th century celebutante, Marie Antoinette. She knows this stuff and knows how to examine it from a fresh perspective.

As much as I admired this film, part of me wishes they’d never made a movie about the Bling Ring. Sure, there’s mockery of the subjects and they get their comeuppance, but one gets the feeling these fame-seeking heat missiles won’t get that. They’ll just like the “famous” part. I give “The Bling Ring” an A-.